The mass transit industry has long focused on regular riders, large numbers of trips, and daily commuting. Captive rider and transit dependency concepts are also common in the transit industry's view of its markets. However, recent research challenges these views, especially the frequency of use. Results from three sources are discussed: onboard surveys, fare structure changes, and the transit voucher (commuter check) fare subsidy plan. The findings suggest that infrequent riders are a critical transit market and perhaps the key to building transit ridership and revenues.
Full reliance on conventional forms of bus transit for peak hour needs reduces industry productivity and creates major new subsidy requirements. Restructuring of transit is needed to enable paratransit integration and other innovations than can improve efficiency. This paper discusses the industry's long-term neglect of efficiency and describes subsidy policies that would promote necessary changes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.